This question was answered today at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Family Concert. Wynton Marsalis himself narrated the stories behind Duke Ellington’s life and music. The lineup included not only Wynton’s brilliant in-house orchestra, but also a few teenage jazz prodigies. Particularly 18-year old Matt Muirhead from the Manhattan School of Music showed solo talent well beyond his years. Hear him “make his trumpet talk” in the clip below (there’s not much to see of him, since i shot the video from the hip … with the display off). In case you are wondering about Tobin fighting a sleep attack – he started the afternoon with a lot of interest and energy, but had to battle his early afternoon low point in the second half of the performance…
“Monster” and “skyscraper on fire” are popular themes in Tobin’s artwork these days. The vampire monster was drawn while i was working on Mika’s Halloween cape. The FDNY in action was drawn a couple of days ago.
For Halloween this year, Tobin had planned to be a “scary wolf” many months in advance. Enough time to discover an eccentric children’s line of furry hats with integrated paws, and we got him the “wolf” model for his birthday. Inspired by Tobin’s furry plans, Mika wanted to be a cat again, but this time she insisted on being a “white princess kitty – with crown!” – scary on a whole different level. I took the pattern off of Tobin’s wolf hat, and made a replica out of white fake fur, fully lined like the original. The crown was a bachelorette tiara from the party store (sans veil). Both kids got matching tails on a belt, and off they went trick-or-treating until well after sunset…
Mika was invited to Luna’s “Haunted House”-themed birthday party, but didn’t have a scary Halloween costume this year. We whipped up a second costume, turning Tobin’s disposable “Pirate Party” tablecloths into a vampire cape. She blended perfectly into the spooky mix of toothless witches and vampires… All party guests were served “eyeballs” and “blood” (cranberry juice), and got a good scare at the haunted house (aka tricked out living room). The last two pictures were taken before the party – at our house, and on the way over.
Tobin requested a “pirate party” for his birthday on rather short notice, so we didn’t go all out on the theme but had a few pirate-y decorations and pirate-y activities. Most notably, a blow-up sword fight on a wooden plank. Years of hard work turning our kids into cooperating pacifists were overcome within minutes. At first, Mika dominated the scene – but she got defeated by fearless Edie (!) After the duels were over, little Sasha took off with a sword, and Nara practiced balancing the plank. Check out Tobin’s pirate door sign he drew for the party … arrrr!
(Note: the camera settings accidentally changed to some exotic preset. Every single picture that day, taken at 3200 ISO (!), turned out grainy, with way too much contrast and a wacky color profile. So frustrating, but this is what i salvaged through camera raw adjustments. Still, anybody who wants hires files, be prepared for a pixelstorm.)
The weather threw us a curve ball today, serving the first Nor’easter of the season. The kids were thrilled when they spotted the big, clumping flakes come down and insisted on playing in the “snow”. Armed with rubber boots, they played until their gloves were soaked and fingers turned numb. It was the perfect afternoon for the first hot chocolate of the season as well…
Time is flying and our little guy is suddenly a “big boy” – four years old, and a senior at his preschool! We got up extra early to make time for a small birthday celebration before the kids had to go to school. At pickup, Mika read “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” to Tobin’s class and we shared freshly baked orange cupcakes (it was “Orange Day” at school, as you can see). On this special occasion, both Mika and i were allowed into the school garden. She was very excited to play one more time like in the old days, and had a great time with the boys. Tobin finished the evening with yet another round of passionate Lego construction while Mika filled Uncle Joe in on the details of the day.
Take a fleece Jacket, a plastic slide, and temperatures less than 75°F, and you can build up enough static charge to light a bulb. Or at last to raise every hair on your head. Good thing Sung was lightning fast with his phone camera…
Today, we had no plans whatsoever and just biked over to Pier 1 in DUMBO. On the big lawn, we bumped into our old friends Diego, Suko, and their parents. Although we haven’t seen each other in a very long time, the kids reconnected right away over a soccer ball … and some ice cream.
One of Mika’s classmate’s mom invited us to their Annual Brooklyn-Korean Families Picnic in Prospect Park. Many of the 30+ families made it, and almost all of them were mixed like us. Mika and Tobin met lots of their friends, including Lillian and Tyler. The weather was surprisingly nice, but the kids were naturally drawn to a huge mud puddle that spoke volumes about the thunderstorms from this past week.
This is a belated post from last weekend. We went apple picking on a ridiculously sunny, hot October day: 86°F (30°C) at the peak of the season caused a mass migration of city folks into the countryside. Naturally, the commute was not our favorite part. Once we arrived at the orchard with Team Olivia/Theo, we had a fantastic time though. The kids ate their weight in apples, helped pluck a few, and enjoyed the activities near the farmhouse. Especially the picket fence maze had them running back and forth countless times. On our way home, we stopped for the most scenic ice cream sundaes and watched the sun set over the luscious countryside.
